Obama's Victory Brings Hope for Peace, Not Fractious Tribalism

Obama's Victory Brings Hope for Peace, Not Fractious Tribalism

by

Tom Turnipseed

The mandate given to Barack Obama in our Presidential election means
an impressive number of Americans got over their racial and ethnic
hang-ups due to an extraordinarily eloquent, confident and organized
leader who speaks of peace, hope and change. Obama won in spite of
his race and global family heritage that would have been
insurmountable political liabilities for a lesser leader.

In my thirties, I was the Executive Director of the Presidential
Campaign of Governor George Wallace of Alabama. Wallace was a master
at using the politics of race and fear. Wallace's politics of fear are
evident in his comments on the Watts riots in LA: "the pointy-headed
liberals say that they (blacks) had an excuse to riot and burn and
loot because they didn't have enough watermelon to eat when they were
younguns."

While McCain/Palin steered clear of blatantly overt racism, Palin
employed innuendo when she said of Obama,"This is not a man who sees
America as you and I do." Islamophobic rhetoric abounded. Rep.
Steve King an Iowa Republican told a Spencer, Iowa, radio station in
March: ".. if [Obama] is elected president, then the radical
Islamists, the al‑Qaida, the radical Islamists and their supporters,
will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on
September 11." Speakers at McCain/Palin rallies referred to "Barack
Hussein Obama".

I was delighted to see Barack Obama overcome such politics of fear and
division with his mesmerizing message of inclusion and respect for the
diverse views of all people. This is the ideal of democracy. Our
President is supposed to represent all our people. Obama's pleasant
demeanor, superb social skills, with a friendly and cool manner of
speaking, allowed him to allay fears created in some by his race and
global family heritage.

Obama's democratic idealism is tempered with a political pragmatism
necessary to make him an outstanding leader for these perilous times
of global recession and war. I read Obama's; "Dreams From My Father"
and "The Audacity of Hope" and they are two of the most well written
political autobiographies ever.

I do have a concern -- his appointment of Rahm Emanuel as his chief
of staff. As a senior advisor to former President Bill Clinton,
Emanuel championed law-and-order, "welfare reform" and conservative
measures aimed at disassociating Democrats from liberal reforms of the
past. After leaving the Clinton administration, Emanuel earned $18
million with a global investment banking firm in Chicago. During his
run for Congress in 2002, Emanuel broke ranks with the Democratic
congressional delegation from Illinois and supported the authorization
of war against Iraq, explicitly backing President Bush. Emanuel is a
leader of the conservative Democratic Leadership Council. As chairman
of the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives since 2004,
he has promoted pro-war and pro-business center-right candidates
against anti-war and pro-labor candidates in the primaries. Emanuel's
appointment has raised concerns for a balanced approach to peace in
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Emanuel's Zionist father, a Chicago
pediatrician told the Israeli daily Ma'ariv : "Obviously he will
influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he be? What is
he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."
Such dehumanizing tribal arrogance was lamented by a Palestinian
student page when I was in the SC State Senator in 1979. Like
Emanuel, she was the daughter of a physician. She said many Israelis
viewed all Palestinians as a sub-class of menial laborers much like US
racists stereotype blacks.

Hopefully, Emanuel will execute, not make policy.

Obama is an extraordinarily eloquent, confident and organized leader
who speaks of peace, hope and change, not fractious tribalism. His
election is also a good thing for our country and the world because of
his race and global family heritage.

Tom Turnipseed is an attorney, writer and radio host of The Seed Show in Columbia, South Carolina.

Further

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